Johnny's Pizza BrandNEWS

Where Did Stromboli Originate?

Stromboli, often referred to as a stuffed pizza or a boli, is a type of turnover filled with mozzarella cheese along with various fillings, often pepperoni. The dough is pizza dough and a stromboli is cooked in the same way as regular pizza. Stromboli is reported to have originated in Essington, just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at Romano’s Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria, by Nazzareno Romano. There, William Schofield supposedly gave it the name, after the movie “Stromboli,” starring Ingrid Bergman. Other sources claim the stromboli was the brainchild of Mike Aquino, Sr. and that he created it in Spokane, Washington in 1954, while other sources say that it originated in Stromboli, an island in Italy.

Stromboli are similar to calzones, but traditionally the two are distinct dishes, as stromboli usually contain only mozzarella cheese, while calzones contain a cheese mixture (often including ricotta) and tend to lack marinara sauce. Moreover, stromboli is rolled to resemble a loaf, whereas a calzone is folded to resemble a semi-circle.